1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector inspecting device for detecting whether or not a metal terminal has been satisfactorily set in a connector housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connector includes a connector housing that is generally made of resin and metal terminals connected to the end of an electrical wire, which is inserted into the connector housing. Each of the metal terminals is fixedly held with a lance (or an elastic locking pawl) extended from the connector housing so that it may not come off the connector housing. When each of the metal terminals is inserted into the connector housing, the respective lance is bent toward the lance bending space provided in the connector housing. When the metal terminal has been correctly inserted into the connector housing; that is, when it is at a "normal position," the lance is elastically restored to engage the metal terminal, so that the metal terminal is prevented from coming off the connector housing.
However, the connector having the above-described terminal retaining structure may suffer from the following difficulty: When the metal terminal is inserted until the lance is bent, some frictional force acts on the metal terminal, thus falsely retaining the metal terminal. In this case, the person inserting the metal terminal into the connector housing may consider that the metal terminal has been completely inserted into the connector housing, and stop the insertion of the metal terminal.
If the metal terminal is not inserted to the "normal position" where it is engaged with the lance of the connector housing, the metal terminal may come off during the use of the connector. Hence, it is essential to detect whether the metal terminal of the electrical wire has been correctly inserted into the connector housing.
There have been proposed a variety of connector inspecting devices. One example is disclosed by Japanese Utility Patent Application Publication No. 47093/1987. The connector inspecting device includes a connector holder for holding a connector at a predetermined position and lance check pins protruded toward the lances of the connector held at the predetermined position. More specifically, the lance check pins are extended toward the lance bending spaces, and they are brought into contact with the ends of the lances, which are positioned in the lance bending spaces when the insertion of the metal terminal into the connector housing is incomplete. Thus, with the device, it can be determined whether or not the metal terminal has been satisfactorily set in the connector housing.
However, the above-described conventional connector inspecting device is still disadvantageous in the following points: If, in spite of the fact that a metal terminal has been insufficiently inserted into the connector housing, the connector is forcibly set on the connector holder, the lance check pin is strongly pushed against the lance, thus deforming the lance. If the lance is deformed in the above-described manner, then it is possible to set the unsatisfactory connector in the connector holder in the same position as in the case of the satisfactory connector in which the metal terminals have been correctly inserted. In this case, it is impossible to detect the incorrect insertion of the metal terminal. In addition, the lance is then damaged, which makes it impossible to use the connector. The damage to the lance is liable to occur especially with a connector inspecting device in which a cam mechanism is employed to forcibly move the lance check pins in the connector housing.